Police said they and 15 others have been running drugs and guns to Newburgh, trafficking weapons that can be tied to a variety of crimes, including attempted murder.

Yesterday, a handful of them — the last group scooped up in a seven-month investigation by Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agents and Newburgh police — got a ride to federal court escorted by U.S. marshals to face a host of charges that could land some of them in prison for life.

James B. Comey, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, called the probe into the "rampant drug and gun crime" in Newburgh just the beginning and promised more federal intervention.

"It's not just Newburgh, it's the surrounding region??that's become a magnet for the drug trade and for those looking to obtain illegal guns," Comey said at a press conference yesterday.

Here's how investigators said guns made their way to Newburgh: A buyer would pay a person with a crime-free background or a fake ID for each weapon they bought in the South, in most cases Georgia, where laws do not limit the number of guns a person can purchase each day. The buyer would transport the guns to Newburgh, where they would be sold on the streets for a large profit.

Many times, those guns landed in the hands of convicted felons, like Don L. King, who when arrested in September had a shotgun he used to threaten his girlfriend, police said.

During the past seven months, investigators executed more than a dozen search warrants throughout Newburgh and found weapons, drugs and cash.

The most recent arrests occurred yesterday when ATF agents and city police arrested seven people and seized $7,000 in cash and a cache of drugs and guns.

"There are not just street level dealers," said Newburgh police Chief William Bloom. "These individuals are dangerous to our community."

The investigation into the organized crime led to 18 arrests, 26 weapons, nearly a kilo of crack cocaine, PCP and tens of thousands of dollars in criminal proceeds. Investigators laid out Newburgh's seamy underbelly, a cornucopia of criminal spoils on a table at the press conference — rifles, pearl-handled .22-caliber handguns, stacks of cash, groupings of crack the size half dollars, and plastic bags of sweet-smelling PCP. Those arrested face federal charges including drug sales, weapons trafficking and witness intimidation.